Lionel Belasco
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2017) |
Lionel Belasco (Maracaibo (Venezuela) 20 september 1881 – c. 24 June 1967) was from Trinidad and Tobago and was a pianist, composer and bandleader, best known for his calypso recordings.
Biography
[edit]According to various sources, Belasco was born in Maracaibo (Venezuela), the son of an Afro-Caribbean mother and a Sephardic Jewish father. He spent his early childhood in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, and grew up in Trinidad. He traveled widely in the Caribbean and South America in his youth, absorbing a wide variety of musical influences. He was leading his own band by 1902, and made his first phonograph recordings in Trinidad in 1914.[1]
He claimed that "Rum and Coca Cola," a big hit in the 40s, was based on a calypso called "L'Annee Passee" that he had published in a song folio in 1943. "L'Annee" in turn was actually based on a Martinquean folk song, although Belasco claimed to have written it in the early 1900s.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Richie Unterberger, "Artist Biography" at AllMusic.
External links
[edit]- Lionel Belasco recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20110616102802/http://www.nalis.gov.tt/Biography/bio_Lionel_Belasco1.html
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
 | This article on a musician from Trinidad and Tobago is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This article about a United States keyboardist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- 1881 births
- 1967 deaths
- American bandleaders
- 20th-century American Sephardic Jews
- American people of Trinidad and Tobago descent
- American people of Venezuelan-Jewish descent
- Calypsonians
- People from Maracaibo
- Musicians from Port of Spain
- 20th-century Trinidad and Tobago male singers
- 20th-century Trinidad and Tobago singers
- Venezuelan Jews
- Caribbean musician stubs
- Trinidad and Tobago people stubs
- American keyboardist stubs
- American composer, 19th-century birth stubs